Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-04-29
y TWO MEN WITH IDEAS.
what Perseverance, Has Accomplished For
Augusta DAILY and Rudolph Aronson.
tc,o,;a n, corroersondonce

what Perseverance, Has accomplished for
Augusta DAILY and kadolPh Aronson.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, April 20.
Twas I'D at Days theatre the other night
to see the Tooth performance Of "The Tanning
of the Shrew." The house was packed, and
Business Manager Dorney tells me that it has
been so at every performance during this
phenomenal run. say phenomenal because
only twice before in the history Of the Amer
lean stage has Shaksspearian presentation
reached its Tooth performance-once when
Booth played ''Hamlet" in the Winter Gar
den and again when a spectacular production
of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" was given
at the old Olympic-and these were both
forced runs. The houses were freely papered
during the last three or four weeks, but at
Daly's the run is forced by the public, not the
manager DAILY must be coming money, yet
it was not so many years ago that people
looked upon Augustin Daily as q visionary
young man, with an insane notion of ele-
waiting the stage and wholly unreasonable
fad for the revival Of old comedies. People
went to see his modern society plays, but his
revivals of the classics they avoided as they
would a pestilence. He knew that he was
doing good work and he was determined that
the public should realize it He kept onsink-
ing his time and money and energy in the
moss grown shaft of old English comedy,
and now he has struck pay dirt His theatre
Is veritable gold mine.
Augustin DAILY came to New York from
North Carolina, q raw country youth, about
thirty years ago, and went into Journalism.
He first distinguished himself by writing
pretty sensational stories for The Sunday
Courier and other papers Of that ilk. He
went into journalism, as he does everything
he goes into, with his whole SOUL He used to
write pretty nearly the whole paper, read the
proofs, 60 around to the composing room and
mike up the forms, and then after midnight
supper Of coffee and cakes he would return to
The office, curl himself up on the counter
and sleep till he was reused by the man from
the press room, who used to bring the edition
around on his shoulder. Then DAILY would fold
the papers and sell them to the newsboys.
Then he was made dramatic critic of The
Times, and began to write plays. From that
he naturally drifted into management His
ambitious were, first. to have a perfect stock
company, not necessarily individually strong,
but one which should form harmonious and
artistic whole; second, he wanted to produce
old plays. A veteran manager once told ME
that what DAILY made OH his regular season
he lost on his revivals. After he had trans
formed the present Fifth Avenue theatre
from a barn into a theatre the owners raised
the rent and he moved to the old Woods
museum, which he made into the present
Days theatre, the most fashionable play
house in New York.
Another manager with an idea is felici
tatng himself over the 3OOth perform
ance of "Erminie." Ten years ago,
when Rudolph Aronson, clever young mu-
stefan, whispered to his friends his scheme of
building theatre which should be an
embodied dream of the Arabian nights,
with cafe in the gallery and
a summer garden Oh the roof, with
flowers and fountains and many col
ored lights, vision of fairyland, the
friends tapped their foreheads and shool
their heads wisely, murmuring, "Poor Aron-
SON" When he further asserted that this
Utopian play house should be devoted to light
opera the friends howled in derision. He was
stark, staring mad. Comic opera could never
run in New York. Yet the Casino was
built, and "Erminie" has seen its 3OOth
performance. It was hard enough work to
ct the money for the erection Of the house,
ut a stock company was formed, and two Of
he heaviest stockholders were James D.
Fish, now of Auburn. and Ferdinand Ward,
Of Sing Sing. New York owes debt Of
gratitude to these men for being instrumental
n the erection of a theatre the handsomest
N the metropolis and unique in this country
The Casino is paying handsomely, and the
stockholders are being amply rewarded for
their faith in the handsome and enthusiastic
young musician and his idea
There is as vast a difference between these
two men with IDEAS as there is in their ideas
Yet they were both ridiculed as dreanlers at
the outset and they both won by persever-
ance. There is sermon in the success OF
these two men that not one out OF a thousand
who visit their theatres pause to think of.
Stephen Girard once told young man who
asked him how to make a success in life to
find out what you want to do and then
do it." And that is the secret of the success
of both Augustin DAILY and Rudolph Aron-
son.
do not mean to insnuate that Mr.. DAILY
and Mr.. Aronson are the only two managers
with ideas any more than intended to turn
chat upon two successful managers into a
sermon. But when one sees hundreds of clever
young men drifting from one profession to
another and doing little in any, the tempta
ton is strong to point a moral and adorn a
ale with the record of two men who have
given the public the best they had and stuck
1T IT, ALLAN FoRMAN.
TvNn Dx,yf